N96271

On September 10, 1987 at 03:30 PM, N96271 experienced a crash involving Lockheed P-2 Neptune, operated by Black Hills Aviation, with the event recorded near White Sands Missile Range New Mexico.

The flight was categorized as fire fighting and the reported phase was flight at a desert crash site.

2 people were known to be on board, 2 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 2, crew fatalities: 2, passengers on board: 0, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

At approximately 3:00 p.m. on September 10, 1987, the Army called Black Hills Aviation to suppress a fire started by a FAADS missile. The missile was fired more than two hours before the crash. A P2V aircraft, Forest Service Number N96271 ["Tanker 07"], owned by Black Hills, was dispatched in response to the request for aerial fire suppression. Tanker 07 was piloted by Nathan Kolb and co-piloted by Woodard Miller, employees of Black Hills Aviation who were not Department of Defense personnel. Tanker 07 obtained authorization to enter the missile range's airspace from the missile range air controller. During the flight, Tanker 07 crashed on the missile range and both pilots were killed. The crash site was located approximately fifteen miles into the interior of the missile range, and was inside the testing site for the FAADS Project.

Aircraft reference details include registration N96271, MSN 426-5315, year of manufacture 1954.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 33.0658°, -106.5456°.